The invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to a shielded connector assembly having a recharging connector portion.
Various types of electrical connectors, such as cellular telephones, are provided with a metallic shielding shell to protect signal paths of the connector from external electromagnetic waves. The shielding shell is formed to cover an outer periphery of an insulating housing having electrical contacts therein. The shielding shell may be formed by punching and bending a metal plate into a standarized dimension and shape, such as a cube or a cylinder.
Shielded connectors used for cellular telephones are commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9ccombined type.xe2x80x9d The combined type shielded connector is provided with a recharging connector portion to add a recharging function thereto. An example of a combined type shielded connector assembly is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,660 titled xe2x80x9cPortable Phone Composite Connector.xe2x80x9d The portable phone composite connector has an input/output (I/O) connector portion and a recharging connector portion with recharging terminals provided within a single shielded connector assembly.
The configuration of the recharging terminals, such as the interval therebetween, varies from one manufacturer of cellular telephones to another. Because the connector portion and the recharging connector portion are integrally formed, when the recharging connector portion is configured differently, the entire shielded connector assembly must be rebuilt. In addition, because the recharging connector portion is not securely fixed, repeated use of the recharging connector portion often results in positional misalignment.
It is therefore desirable to provide a shielded connector assembly wherein the recharging connector portion is fixed onto a circuit board to withstand positional misalignment from repeated usage. It is further desirable to provide a shielded connector assembly wherein various configurations of recharging terminals are easily accommodated by simply changing the recharging connector portion.
The invention relates to a shielded connector assembly having an electrical connector and a recharging connector portion. The electrical connector having a first insulating housing with contacts disposed therein, a first fixing portion, and a shielding shell disposed about the first insulating housing. The recharging connector portion including a second insulating housing having a terminal, and a second fixing portion that engages the first fixing portion to detachably mount the recharging connector portion to the housing.